Configuring Exchange to relay internal e-mails to an SMTP server

exchangeexchange-2003sharepointsharepoint-2007smtp

I am working on a SharePoint implementation for a group within an international company. SharePoint has the ability to retrieve e-mails from an SMTP Drop Folder. I have installed the SMTP service on the same server and have been able to send a test e-mail to the server using telnet and an e-mail address of "something@ServerName.fully.qualified.domain"

However, I'm not sure what I need to do to allow the corporate Exchange 2003 environment to recognize the delivery address and forward it to my SMTP server.

I have heard of Exchange SMTP Connectors, but not sure if it is relevant here.

Another idea is to have an MX entry added to the DNS servers, but I would have thought a fully qualified machine name would be sufficient for the Exchange server to route the message to the SMTP server, but seemingly not.

The e-mails that I hope to be receiving will always come from within the AD domain, so I don't have to worry about routing on the internet.

My Exchange knowledge is minimal, so please use small words when offering any suggestions. I am trying to avoid any changes to the Exchange envrionment as this will probably not get approved by the global Exchange admin team.

Best Answer

You thinking on the SMTP connector is correct. You need to create an SMTP connector on your Exchange server to forward all mail for ServerName.fully.qualified.domain to be forwarded to the Sharepoint server. The steps to do this are as follows.

  1. Ensure that DNS is setup correctly so that you can fully resolve ServerName.fully.qualified.domain to your Sharepoint server.
  2. Open the Exchange System Manager and navigate to the Connectors Container in your Administrative Group. If you can’t see the Administrative Groups you have to go into the properties of the Exchange Organization object and enable “Administrative Groups” and “Routing Groups” views.
  3. Right click on the connector container and select new SMTP connector.
  4. Under the general tab select the option Forward all mail through this connector to the following smart hosts and, in the corresponding text box , type the name of the Sharepoint Server.
  5. On the local bridgeheads box, select add and pick your Exchange server.
  6. Select the address space tab, click add and select SMTP. Click ok and then in the Internet Address Space Properties dialogue box, in the E-mail domain box, enter the (sub)domain you want forwarding to the Sharepoint server - ServerName.fully.qualified.domain
  7. For connector scope, ensure Entire organization is selected.
  8. On the delivery options tab make sure it is set to always run.
  9. Click ok and apply the new settings.

Mail should now flow to your Sharepoint server when addressed to that subdomain.

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